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Error Loading Operating System

I went to start up my computer today and I am just getting a black screen with the message " Error loading operating system." I don't know how this came about cause I have not added anything or changed anything. Any ideas....

Do you have anything important? if you do, you will need to do a repair install of XP and get your files before the hard drive fails completely. Use the service tag to obtain full specs of the computer at dells web site. This hard drive has previous errors, and has generated new ones. It looks like it is getting ready to fail. You may be able to use a xp disk to perform an operating system repair, the dell os cd will do this also. Here is a link: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm If you follow the directions exactly, you will not lose any files. Please continue to post about this issue, and operate this computer as little as possible.

Okay, thanks for the help. I will have to wait a while before I can get access to an external HD so I can transfer everything over. But I ordered a new HD last night and hopefully I can fix this thing without anymore problems.

I tried following the directions from that install guide, but I ran into the problem of not having the repair option on the first set of steps so I had to go to Warning #2. After I tried that I came back with 'error: Failed to successfully scan disks for Windows installations. This error may be caused by a corrupt file system, which would prevent bootcfg from successfully scanning. Use chkdsk to detect any disk errors.'

Then when I do a chkdsk it comes back with 'The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems"

IMO you're looking at a dying hard drive (based on the tests that you ran in Post 8 and 11) - if that is the case, then backing up your data is now a priority!

First, I'd run a bootable diagnostic that'll be free from the website of the manufacturer of your hard drive to see if the disk is truly dying.

You may want to then try a low level reformat of your hard drive, followed by partitioning it and formatting of the drive - this "may" recover the drive (but will definitely destroy anything on it - to include the recovery partition). Make sure you've got the Dell recovery disks before doing this!

Once this is done, run the bootable diagnostic again to see if the above procedure has fixed things (I doubt that it will, but it's worth a shot!).

Either way, you'll be starting over with a blank hard drive (either a new one, or the one you've run all these tests on) - so you'll have to restore the OS with the Dell Recovery disks

BTW - I just repaired a Dell laptop hard drive by installing the one that the customer ordered from Dell. It came with everything installed already and just required setup. I've been unable to locate any info on the Dell site, but it might be worth a call to ensure that the drive that you order will have the image on it.

My browser caused a flood of traffic, sio my IP address was banned. Hope to fix it soon. Will get back to posting as soon as Im able.

- John (my website: http://www.carrona.org/ )**If you need a more detailed explanation, please ask for it. I have the Knack. ** If I haven't replied in 48 hours, please send me a message. My eye problems have recently increased and I'm having difficult reading posts. (23 Nov 2017)FYI - I am completely blind in the right eye and ~30% blind in the left eye.<p>If the eye problems get worse suddenly, I may not be able to respond.If that's the case and help is needed, please PM a staff member for assistance.

First, try the tools mentioned below on your computer to see if you can boot to them and then use your CD drive to make backups (or borrow a flash drive or external hard drive).

If not, then I'd suggest slaving the old hard drive to another computer and recovering the data with a utility such as the free BartPE ( http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ ) or the free Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ Others have used Live Linux distributions with good results also.

See if you can borrow a drive caddy to do this, if not you'll have to purchase one.

My browser caused a flood of traffic, sio my IP address was banned. Hope to fix it soon. Will get back to posting as soon as Im able.

- John (my website: http://www.carrona.org/ )**If you need a more detailed explanation, please ask for it. I have the Knack. ** If I haven't replied in 48 hours, please send me a message. My eye problems have recently increased and I'm having difficult reading posts. (23 Nov 2017)FYI - I am completely blind in the right eye and ~30% blind in the left eye.<p>If the eye problems get worse suddenly, I may not be able to respond.If that's the case and help is needed, please PM a staff member for assistance.